I was surprised to find that two local coffee shops don’t require their staff to wear masks.
All tagged Coronavirus
The Covid Pandemic continues
The anti-vaxxers powerfully affirm the words of the philosopher who said: “Most people never cease to exercise their right to disbelieve something that is so obvious, or to believe something that is ridiculous.” In 2021, we have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt the validity of this statement.
About mask mandates
As a mom, grandmother, and longtime teacher, I had hoped that the district’s Covid safety plan would mandate masks for all K-12 students and adults while on school premises or transportation. My main concern with the plan that the district recently adopted is the phrase “should wear masks” to describe the masking requirements for unvaccinated middle- and high-school kids.
Can American billionaires get us to herd immunity?
Fabulously wealthy individuals have a chance to alter history in real time by simply opening their wallets and, in effect, writing a check to the American people.
PA’s vaccine roll-out mess
Is our state leadership deliberately trying to prolong the pandemic? Or are they simply inept?
Send us the vaccines!
Many of us senior citizens are focused on one question: How and when can we get our coronavirus vaccination? Of course, the question pertains to the entire community, not just seniors.
Where are you, Governor Wolf?
I voted for you twice, Mr. Governor, and I am a lifelong Democrat, but I am deeply disappointed in your lack of leadership. Tom Wolf: It is time for you to step up and seize the moment. You are failing us in this crisis.
The anti-science president’s legacy may be saved by science
We cannot say that a compassionate concern for the well-being and health and safety of ordinary Americans is what drove President Trump toward helping to facilitate the vaccine development process. He has always demonstrated that he is driven almost exclusively by advancing his own perceived self-interest. But these vaccines promise to end this pandemic far more quickly than might have been expected, and for this we should all be thankful and grateful.
Trump’s presidency by the numbers
Thank you, Mr. Riviello, for your welcome defense of Donald J. Trump, Great President (November 20 edition). I do suggest that adding on some “hard numbers” to your argument, you know, to support the accolades, would make so much more clear the scale of his effects.
Get over your pandemic fatigue!
Please get over so-called “pandemic fatigue” (a.k.a. laziness and moral dysfunction). Do some jumping jacks and stop reading toxic news!
WSSD is getting it right
Speaking as a parent of three Strath Haven High School graduates who spent their entire K-12 academic careers in our district, I would like to say our family is one hundred percent behind Superintendent Lisa Palmer and the Board of School Directors in their efforts to keep our district safe.
As a Swarthmore resident for 15 years, the mother of two children in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District, a former school board member, and a public health professional, I am writing to applaud the enormous courage of our school board members who voted to do the right thing and keep education virtual till October 2 (or longer) in an effort to protect the health and well-being of our children, teachers, and larger community.
The publishers of the Swarthmorean promote magical thinking in their recent commentary regarding the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District reopening plan. As a high school teacher with over 20 years of experience and a master of public health degree, I am working through my second major pandemic. I previously worked in healthcare with drug-using pregnant women during the AIDS epidemic.
The Wallingford-Swarthmore School District comprises extraordinary and resourceful people – teachers and residents alike. We encourage our community to have open dialogue that allows for genuine communication between parents, teachers, and the administration. Working together, we should be able to find a way to reopen our schools in a way that’s safe for both students and teachers.
Have every student attend school, in whatever way is available this year, then repeat the same grade next year. All of them.
Personally, I’m disappointed that I will not be able to send my two children to SRS to learn in person with their wonderful teachers this fall. In the end, while my partner and I will both be at work, our children will be at home receiving what we all know will be a far from adequate education. But our kids will be fine. We’ll find an expensive qualified tutor and pay them thousands of dollars to walk our children through this online education, even as I go to work to teach classes in person. Make no mistake, this letter is not about my kids, or even about most of our kids. We’ll be fine. This statement is about the families that have no options. 1) Low- to middle-income families who didn’t get lucky enough to find or pay for a tutor. 2) Single parents who have to show up to work. 3) Essential employees who can’t work from home all while keeping the rest of us safe.
Pay local workers better
The Wallingford-Swarthmore School District is kept afloat – economically and socially – by the casual workers who come into town every single day to serve the community. Many of the casual workers are paid by the hour, at a wage that is probably barely above the minimum wage in Pennsylvania, if that, and do not receive health care benefits. While we are in a pandemic, we have the chance to reconsider what the community can do to support the workers who keep the district and its businesses operational.
Future generations will curse us
The world is in the midst of an existential health crisis from the COVID-19 virus that threatens our health, safety, and even our lives. It is understandable that this crisis is absorbing our time, our attention, and our resources. Yet, simultaneously, the Earth is headed toward a longer-term challenge that threatens to change the habitability of the planet and cause misery and suffering, even death, to many millions of the world’s inhabitants. Global climate change is unfolding. While its effects sometimes seem to advance at a glacial pace, they are actually accelerating.
Follow the science!
Readers of the Swarthmorean may have noticed the signs with a timely public health message that have been popping up in yards all over Swarthmore. The signs read: “COVID-19* Follow the Science* Save Lives.” I am part of a team of concerned citizens from neighboring Media Borough who purchased the lawn signs with our own money and have been distributing them to neighbors throughout Delaware County. We are delivering the signs right to the front doors of folks who order one.
Opening schools this fall
I’m grateful that I live in a community in which the overwhelming majority recognizes the value of education for our children and society. As an educator, I am desperately hopeful that I will be able to teach classes face to face this coming fall, for as many of my students as are able to be there.